He that dies a martyr proves that he was not a knave, but by no means that he was not a fool; since the most absurd doctrines are not without such evidence as martyrdom can produce. A martyr, therefore, by the mere act of suffering, can prove nothing but his own faith.

The excess of our youth are checks written against our age and they are payable with interest thirty years later.

Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a pretext for a thousand.

The interests of society often render it expedient not to utter the whole truth, the interests of science never: for in this field we have much more to fear from the deficiency of truth than from its abundance.

To diminish envy, let us consider not what others possess, but what they enjoy; mere riches may be the gift of lucky accident or blind chance, but happiness must be the result of prudent preference and rational design; the highest happiness then can have no other foundation than the deepest wisdom; and the happiest fool is only as happy as he knows how to be.

Men of great and shining qualities do not always succeed in life, but the fault lies more often in themselves than in others.

Death is like thunder in two particulars; we are alarmed, at the sound of it; and it is formidable only from that which preceded it.